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May day 2003 violence berlin { May 1 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64719-2003May1.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64719-2003May1.html
World Marks May Day, Violence Flares in Berlin
Reuters
Thursday, May 1, 2003; 9:39 AM
By Erik Kirschbaum
BERLIN (Reuters) - German riot police clashed with rock-throwing demonstrators in Berlin and violence was expected in other European capitals at rallies marking the May Day holiday Thursday.
Hundreds of thousands of workers and protesters took part in largely peaceful May Day rallies round the world, though scuffles were reported and some demonstrations on the public holiday included criticism of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
Authorities in London, Berlin and some other capitals were ready for disturbances after past protests turned violent.
Berlin police were out in force, with some 7,500 on city streets braced for battles with anarchists after 27 police officers and an unknown number of assailants and bystanders were injured in three hours of clashes overnight.
"It's quiet right now, but it's possible there will be further violence," said Berlin police spokesman Ralph Gizinski.
The violence erupted without warning toward the end of a peaceful protest by about 4,000 people in the Mauerpark, in the Prenzlauer Berg district where the Berlin Wall stood.
A group of 200 anarchists hurled bottles and rocks and shot fireworks at police, who charged the group, arresting 97 of them. Violence in the area lasted three hours, with street barricades set ablaze and some shop windows smashed.
The German capital has been marred by May Day clashes between anarchists and police every year since 1987. Last year rampaging youths caused extensive damage, setting luxury cars and bus shelters on fire.
LONDON BRACED FOR VIOLENCE
In London, radical anti-capitalist activists had a hit list of more than 50 "companies of mass destruction" in their sights in protests that police feared could turn violent.
Anarchist groups published the names and addresses of the establishments -- oil companies, arms manufacturers, banks and multinationals -- on various Internet sites.
Police mobilized 4,000 officers in the British capital to guard against violence. Organizers hoped mass anti-war rallies earlier this year would give impetus to the May Day events.
"The anti-war movement has not lost its puff," said Andrew Burgin of the Stop the War Coalition. "People are still angry over Iraq."
Two years ago, in the worst May Day violence in Britain of recent times, masked protesters rioted in London, defacing the Cenotaph war memorial, trashing a shop and burning cars.
In Switzerland, police in Berne used water cannon to keep some 300 demonstrators from entering a government-controlled weapons company. The protesters were calling for a ban on arms exports from neutral Switzerland.
In Zurich police said 7,000 people marched peacefully to condemn the war in Iraq and criticize 'fat cat' managers who draw huge pay packets while the global economy stutters.
"Yesterday Afghanistan, Today Iraq, Tomorrow ... ?" read one banner carried by protesters who marched through Switzerland's financial capital to a lakeside rally in brilliant sunshine.
GORBACHEV JOINS MOSCOW RALLY
In Russia, pro-Kremlin parties and trade unions stole the show from the fading Communist opposition by organizing a rally in central Moscow that drew an estimated 25,000 people.
The peaceful, flower-waving crowd cheerfully marched down Moscow's main thoroughfare, joined by the city's mayor Yuri Luzhkov and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Tens of thousands also rallied in Italy and Bulgaria.
In Japan, hundreds of thousands of union members took part in May Day rallies. In Seoul, about 20,000 took part in a rally demanding a shorter work week, better conditions and job security.
In Manila, the Philippines, about 10,000 marched to demand better working conditions. Some wore masks to symbolize what they saw as the harmful effects of globalization on local industries.
May Day protests also hit five cities in Indonesia, where the labor movement has become a growing force since the authoritarian days of former president Suharto ended in 1998. (Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne in London, Michael Shields in Zurich, Liliana Semerdjieva in Sofia, Maria Golovnina in Moscow, Masayuki Kitano in Tokyo, Dolly Aglay in Manila, and Kim Yeon-Hee in Seoul)
© 2003 Reuters
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